Last Nov. 9, Valerie McDonald vanished
from San Francisco. Her disappearance has been linked to the
movements of a group of mysterious San Quentin alumni 
including a 26-year-old criminal genius taken into custody in
Canada and another ex-convict shot to death at the same time.
McDonald's family, private investigators
and police in two countries are trying to unravel the mystery.
This article is one of a series The Examiner will present as
the story develops.

By Larry Maatz
Examiner Staff Writer

ROSSLAND, B.C.  An ice-etched
60-foot cedar stands outside the window of the luxury apartment
rented by the two mysterious men.
The building overlooks the Christmas
card scene of Rossland, a small ski resort and residential community
so free of crime that residents don't lock their homes and skis
are left standing outside the back doors.
Yet police say the luxury apartment was
intended to be the headquarters of an international crime conglomerate
headed by erratic genius John Gordon Abbott.
And their search for a young acting hopeful
who disappeared two months ago in San Francisco has led them
to strands of blonde hair in the car used by Abbott and his slain
errand boy Michael Hennessey, 23, like Abbott a former San Quentin
inmate.
Abbott, 26 and possessor of a genius-level
IQ of 160, had chosen Rossland to set up an elaborate criminal
enterprise, according to police. Some 15 to 20 neat white cardboard
file folders seized by Canadian authorities show that Abbott
and his associates had the names of officers in banks, armored
car companies and commercial firms like Safeway.
Similar files were seized in a raid on
a Hunters Point warehouse Wednesday. Among the documents were
carefully drawn plans for two United Parcel robberies that occurred
Dec. 24 and Dec. 30, more than a month after Abbott was captured
and Hennessey shot by Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The files
included complete details on the families and movements of the
drivers of the two trucks.

The McDonald File: Police tell of genius's
plan

Law enforcement sources say the two
robberies were carried out with professional skill. The drivers
were approached from behind, pillow cases were dropped over their
heads and they were driven to a location officers now believe
was the Hunters Point warehouse.
When police raided the warehouse Wednesday
they found parts of the guards' uniforms.
They also found Phillip Thompson, 35,
a longtime prison associate of Abbott. Thompson, who has denied
participation in any criminal enterprise with Abbott, is currently
in San Francisco jail on a variety of charges including suspicion
of grand theft, possession of a deadly weapon, possession of
controlled substances and marijuana and narcotics paraphernalia
and other charges.
Law enforcement officials believe the
series of crimes planned by the group was designed to raise money
for the purchase of automatic weapons to be sold in cocaine-rich
Columbia and Bolivia and to right-wing plotters in El Salvador.
A former prison guard was to be used
by Abbott and his associates to obtain a license for purchase
of the weapons. A man with a clean record, the guard already
had begun paperwork on the application for a Class 3 firearms
license in December.
But the elaborate enterprise began to
fall apart after the disappearance of 26-year-old Valerie McDonald,
a young woman who wore stilleto-heeled boots and provocative
dresses and dreamed of a career as a Hollywood superstar.
Until Nov. 9, McDonald lived in an apartment
house managed by Abbott, Thompson and Hennessey. The trio had
met in the prison system before their release last summer. Thompson
and Abbott arriving as manager and assistant manager in September,
Hennessey on Oct. 1.
McDonald told friends she was worried
by the new people working at the apartment and she told of "satanic
parties" and large bowls of cocaine.
But one of the men made her an offer
that was irresistible to the aspiring actress, a bit part in
a movie. On the night of Nov. 9 she left the building to take
part in the filming, and none of her friends have reported seeing
her since.
Police believe she had blundered unknowingly
into Abbott's network of crime. They still are working to piece
together what happened.
On Nov. 22, the day Abbott and Hennessey
arrived at the tiny airport near Rossland, a standby passenger
boarded for Vancouver. The name penciled on the margin of the
passenger list was Thompson, no first name given.
The same day Abbott and Hennessey visited
a local key maker and reported that their partner had left town
with the keys to their car. When the key maker, Gordon Born,
attempted to enter their car through the rear seat and trunk
they protested and Born never saw what was in the trunk, although
he did make them a set of duplicate keys.
On Nov. 24, Abbott had his car towed
to a transmission shop and the next day returned to the shop
and removed two large duffels and a box of papers. They left
by taxi.
When the two returned to the car shop
two days later, RCMP plainclothes men were waiting.
In the ensuing struggle, Hennessey shot
RCMP constable Jim Lark in the leg and another officer killed
Hennessey.
Abbott was arrested and is now in custody
in Vancouver.
Unofficial sources in Rossland say police
found a total of 38 weapons in the trunk of the car. Police will
say only that they found a rifle and a shotgun.
In the apartment, Canadian investigators
found Valerie McDonald's voter registration card and unemployment
benefits card.
Files in his luxurious Canadian hideaway
here and in the group's operational base in Hunters Point show
that they were planning forays against Safeway, Loomis and Brink's,
and the Hibernia bank.
Research included the names of dispatchers,
drivers, home addresses, the names of their children, social
security numbers, drivers license numbers and their daily schedules.
Ominously, it also included the ages
of the children and where they went to school.
From San Francisco county jail yesterday,
Thompson denied knowing anything about the disappearance of McDonald
and said he never knew much about his beautiful young tenant.
"She was just the face of the girl
in room 24," in the low rent apartment building filled with
musicians, waitresses and students.
Thompson, a history buff, who says he
spent a lot of time in prison just reading, described his friend
Abbott as a genius, who speaks Japanese fluently, studies Asian
history and knows "about anything you ever wanted to know."
Thompson said his only contact with tenant
McDonald was to post an occasional reminder on her door when
she was two and three months behind on her rent.
"If I had the slightest idea where
she was I would persuade her to turn herself in or call someone,"
he said.
"If you're looking for Valerie McDonald,
I haven't the foggiest."
A tenant at the Tower Apartments, he
contends, saw McDonald the day after she is supposed to have
disappeared. "She was packing up her stuff." He refused
to say who the observer was.